Paul Scholes to Retire?

The living legend Paul Scholes has been offered another contract from the club but has not accepted it yet. I for one really hope he continues on playing for at least another year. I think that he has once again proved this season that he is still a cut above the rest, including not only the midfielders that we have at the club but also in the Premier League.

Paul Scholes is a player who I took a shine to in the first game I watched him. Back then he operated as a striker and made an impact in his first season by scoring 7 times. There was always something different about Scholes that I could never quite put my finger on.

The years passed by and he continued to impress me and bang in the goals too playing a big part in the treble year despite being suspended for the Champions League final. Scholes did have a minor blip in the years that Juan Sebastien Veron spent at the club as he tried to adapt to a new 4-4-1-1 where he played just behind the front man.

Roy Keane left the club in 2005 and so I began the search for my new favourite player. It did not take me long to realise that Paul Scholes would now be the focus of all my attention when watching United and it’s a decision I have seen vindicated again and again, year after year.

Since 2005, apart from a few injuries, Scholes has been untouchable. His vision, passing ability and eye for goal has seen him elevated into one of the greatest ever players to wear the famous red shirt. The ghost of missing out on the 1999 Champions League final was banished when he scored an absolute cracker in Old Trafford to knock Barcelona out and send United into the 2008 final. He played 87 minutes of the final, playing his part in the goal before being taken off injured.

In September 2008 Scholes was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame, and dropped a big hint about when he was thinking of retiring saying at the time “I think I’ve got two years left at the most , I’m looking forward to finishing and everything that goes with it.”

Over the years Scholes has been complimented by all the greats of the game who ever played against him such as Zidane, Davids and Viera to name a few. Recently Xavi was the latest opponent to sing his praises and Nani also claimed that in training nobody can get near Paul Scholes to put a tackle in as he is seconds ahead mentally.

And it’s true, his pace might have subsided a bit defensively but he is still yards ahead of anybody at the club in terms of knowing exactly what he is going to do and he rarely gets tackled because he is so far ahead of most players in the league as well! The man is a genius.

Scholes admitted recently that he regretted not taking more time to think about playing at the World Cup for England. Hopefully that incident will make him think about his future with United and how a year from now if he has retired, he wished he could have played on. Ferguson was quoted as saying yesterday that:

“I am more than hopeful about Paul signing another contract, I think he should. His fitness isn’t in question. I think Paul feels he has to play all the games. It is not a bad thing to be that way but at his age, that is impossible.”

“But he can still play a big part for Manchester United, this season and next.”

I honestly think one more year is all that he will do if he does sign on. And I really hope he does!

What do you think? Do you want to see him play on or retire this season?

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